“I Don’t Want to Talk About It!”

July 9 – Today’s Readings – Isaiah 28-30 and Psalms 9

Chapter 30:9-15 of Isaiah reads; “These are rebellious people, deceitful children, – children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’- and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! – Tell us pleasant things, – Prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’ Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: ‘Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.’ This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”

Isn’t this passage a perfect description of how the majority of our society feels about Jesus? They really don’t want to hear any more about it. They far prefer secular humanism, which blindly declares that man is a god and there is no other. They don’t want God in school – they don’t want God in the government – they certainly don’t want God in the world of business and some don’t even want God in Church anymore. A minister I know was holding a “Christian” church service the other day and because there was a Jew present he was very careful to not mention the Name of Jesus. Now this could be considered “sensitive” if the minister in question was having coffee with said Jew – but in Christ’s Church? – So, now you can’t even have Christ in a Christian service?

No, these people call the Message that saves our soul “an illusion” and they embrace “deceit”. When the Lord returns to the earth, the people who rejected the message of the gospel will be wailing and gnashing their teeth. I believe that a good part of this emotion will not be grief but anger at God for being God – for so long they have fiercely rejected Him and His people.

Chapter 28:16 says, “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.” Believe the Word of the Lord when it tells you, – “You and your family will never be dismayed” because you have put your trust in the Holy One and not trusted in man or bought into the religion of the age.

Questions:

1. Give an example from your personal experience when you observed all other faiths and ideologies being “embraced” – except for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Can you think of another example from Scripture where Christ was rejected and in His place some form of paganism adopted.